Welcome to the happiness podcast. I'm Dr. Robert Puff. As human beings we love to accomplish things. We love to have things to go a certain way and we'll put a lot of effort into making sure this happens.

For example, here in the US, a lot of people have jackpot fever

because right now the largest jackpot in US history

is going on with over a billion dollars at stake.

And the number of tickets being sold is astonishing.

People really want to win this jackpot.

And they feel if they do do their lives will be wonderful and if they don't

some people believe it or not are going to go into despair.

Now to us this may seem silly. Why would someone go into despair if they didn't win a jackpot?

Would say odds of them winning are so miniscule. How is that possible?

But I think if we ponder a minute about our own lives, we'll be able to find lots of

examples of this same type of too much effort. Too much effort can really manage itself in so many ways. Think of our own lives or people that

we know that so badly, for example, want to get into the Ivy League and when they do or when they don't.

They're disappointed often either way.

Not getting in disappoints them of course, but getting in can often disappoint them

because it wasn't what they expected.

It didn't create the lasting happiness that they were hoping for.

I think about our financial goals.

I remember once working with a man who when he was younger worked so hard to get that first

promotion and when he did his salary doubled and though at the time he was so excited

very quickly he adjusted to the new income and its salary had kept going up.

And when I knew him, he was making far more than he had made during that first jump.

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